All About Snoop Dogg's Parents, Beverly Tate and Vernell Varnado

From their Mississippi upbringings to their roots in gospel music, here’s everything to know about Snoop Dogg’s parents

Snoop Dogg will never forget where he came from.

Born Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. in Long Beach, Calif., to parents Vernell Varnado and Beverly Tate, Snoop was one of three boys growing up.

Snoop — whose father was largely out of the picture when he was a child — is named after his stepfather, to whom his mom was married until 1975. “Me and my father are real cool. It wasn’t like he ran out on us,” he told SPIN in 1993. “But basically my mama raised me. My mam did raise me.”

The Emmy Award winner got his musical start as a young boy, acting in plays, singing in the choir and playing the piano at Golgotha Trinity Baptist Church. “I thank my auntie, my mom and my grandmother for bringing me up in church, making me do speeches and perform,” he told PEOPLE in 2024. “All of that was training me.”

Related: Who Is Snoop Dogg's Wife? All About Shante Broadus

After devoting time to and honing his craft, he was discovered by Dr. Dre and launched his debut studio album, Doggystyle, in 1993, which reached No. 1 on the Billboard chart and even featured his dad.

“Snoop was always extraordinary,” Varnado told SPIN in 1993. “I thought he was a genius. Even when he was like 6 or 7, if music came on, he’d jump up and dance and perform all the hand movements.” In addition to his striking talent, Snoop credits part of his success to his upbringing with his single mom.

“My mother raised me to love people. And I feel like that's why people love me,” he told Distractify in 2023.

Here is everything to know about Snoop Dogg’s parents, Beverly Tate and Vernell Varnado.

They met as kids in Mississippi

Snoop’s father was born in Magnolia, Miss., and his mom in nearby McComb, where they were childhood friends. Snoop pays homage to his parents’ roots by returning to the Southern state to see relatives and perform.

Related: All About Snoop Dogg's Daughter Cori Broadus

Snoop is also good friends with Mississippi-born athlete and retired NFL quarterback Archie Manning, even sending him a birthday video greeting on his 75th birthday in 2024 and joking that he was the "fourth Manning brother" the year prior.

Tate was a single mom

After Varnado and Tate's divorce, he moved to Detroit and she became Snoop's primary caregiver. Over the years, she did her best to keep the rapper out of trouble.

“She did what she had to do,” Snoop told SPIN of his mom. “She had three kids [an older son, Jerry, and a younger son, Bling, both by different fathers], tryin’ to work a job, tryin’ to bring home the bacon and feed her kids, and keep the finer things in the house — furniture, cable, this, that,” he added. “We didn’t have much, but what we had we appreciated.”

Related: Snoop Dogg's 4 Kids: All About Corde, Cordell, Cori and Julian

His mom gave him his iconic nickname

The “Drop It Like It’s Hot” singer’s iconic stage name “Snoop” — which originated as “Snoopy” — was gifted to him by his mother as a young boy.

"My momma gave me the name,” he told Esquire in 2008. “I used to love Peanuts and Charlie Brown — Snoopy was my favorite cartoon character growing up. I watched so much, I started to look like him."

He kept the nickname over the years, even rapping about it on his debut single, "Who Am I? (What's My Name?)."

Tate was an author

Snoops’ mom served as a church choir director for many decades and later became an ordained Evangelist who spoke at various religious events around the country.

Tate also authored two books: Real Love and Real Love II: The Story of an Extraordinary Woman, the latter detailing the journey from her childhood in the south to Hollywood’s bright lights.

Snoop and his dad share a striking resemblance

In a photo Snoop posted around the time of the repass service for his brother, Bing Worthington, who died in 2024 at 44 years old, the musician twinned with his dad.

The pair, both donning blue ensembles, sat next to each other, Varnado with his arm around his son.

''Family 👊🏿👏🏿💯 @popsnoop,'' Snoop captioned the post.

Varnado is a Vietnam War veteran

At 18 years old, Snoop’s father was drafted to serve in the Vietnam War. After being shot four times during his service, Varnado received a Purple Heart. Varnado’s experience in the military inspired Snoop to consider joining the United States Air Force after high school.

"We were gonna graduate from high school, right? So we went down to the registration office downtown at Long Beach. Me, Duke and a couple other homies," Snoop shared in an Instagram Reel on Memorial Day in 2023. "So we're in there filling out the paperwork and I'm looking at all the questions that they asking me and tryna decide, 'Do I really wanna go through with this Air Force thing?' "

“I said, ‘Duke, give me a minute. I’ll be right back, I’ma go the car.’ Went to the car and never came back," he continued. "And then four years later, my homeboy was a true vet, Air Force soldier."

He added: “I love you for that, man. Appreciate the love, man. All the troops out there, y’all know I love y’all.”

Varnado is an actor and singer

After being a mail carrier and having a gospel career in the ‘80s performing alongside his four brothers, Snoop’s father ventured into acting.

Varnado is best known for his roles in Make It Rain (2008) and the 2017 biopic All Eyez on Me, where he starred alongside Kat Graham to detail the story of Tupac Shakur’s life and death.

Varnado is a proud grandfather and great-grandfather

Through Snoop, Varnado is a grandfather to four, Corde, Cordell, Cori and Julian, and a great-grandfather to seven, Zion, Elleven, Cordoba, Kai, Sky, Chateau and Cordell and Phia's third child, whose name they have not shared.

Varnado shares about his grandchildren and great-grandchildren often on Instagram, bragging about their accomplishments and sharing family memories.

Tate died in 2021

After experiencing undisclosed health issues, Snoop’s mother passed away in October 2021 at the age of 70. In a series of heartfelt tributes, Snoop honored his late mom.

“Mama thank u for having me,” he captioned one of the posts featuring the mother-son duo smiling side-by-side.

"Thank u God for giving me an angel 🕊 for a mother 💖🙏🏽🌹💝 TWMA," he also shared.

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